Our story
The Globus project has grown much since its initial beginnings in 1997 in the development of grid computing, based on the research of Ian Foster, Carl Kesselman, and Steve Tuecke. Globus was developed to enable grid computing: by connecting computing resources, the data can be freed from its initial source, and made portable—even if it's huge.
We’ve stayed true to our roots in scientific research, and today services from Globus are used in universities, laboratories, and computing facilities around the world. Our mission is to help researchers focus on their research, by providing users and the administrators of computing facilities and labs powerful tools built for solving the problems of data-intensive research.
Globus helps to enable virtual organizations that collaborate across organizational boundaries, and allows scientists to focus on their research, not IT problems. We are at the forefront of conversations about research data management, campus bridging, and models for creating sustainable software.
Globus is a project of the Computation Institute, which is a partnership between The University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, founded in 2000 to advance science through innovative computational approaches.
Globus is supported by funding from the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. We are actively pursuing ways to become sustainable such as offering Globus Provider plans to institutions.